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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28594614">To Greener (High)Lands</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mermaid_Mercy/pseuds/Mermaid_Mercy'>Mermaid_Mercy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Disney - All Media Types, Emperor's New Groove (2000), Moana (2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adoption, Adventure, Andes Mountains, Angst, Betrayal, Call Of The Sea, Canoes, Conflicted Loyalty, Crossover, Culture Shock, Dreams and Nightmares, Friendship/Love, Humor, Jungle, Language Barrier, Llamas, Lost Identity, Polynesian Islands, Separation from family, Shipwreck Survivors, Shipwrecks, Wayfinding, fear of the sea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:00:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,017</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28594614</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mermaid_Mercy/pseuds/Mermaid_Mercy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Great Darkness begins to affect Motunui… three years sooner, during Moana's thirteenth year. As the fish disappear and the crops wither away, famine threatens to decimate the island’s population. Eventually Chief Tui decides that his people must set sail with the hopes of finding greener islands elsewhere. However, a collective lack of wayfinding experience plus a harsh, unforgiving ocean certainly don’t mix. A freak accident tosses Moana overboard, seemingly lost forever to the sea… but fate has more in store for her when she washes up on shore of the great Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>To Greener (High)Lands</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>All right folks! Fasten your seatbelts cause this'll probably be a wild and bumpy ride! Naw, I'm (half) kidding. If anyone here has read my drabble collection "Possibilities Around The Riverbend," then you might have seen my TENG/Moana chapter. I promised I would expand on that idea, which I will. But first, I decided to start this one because the idea just bowled me over and wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it (even though I've got the outline for the first one more fleshed out). I even have a third TENG/Moana fic idea in mind, but I'll get to that one and the first one later. Right now, I want to see where my mind will take THIS one.<br/>Side Note: This and the other two ideas I mentioned were inspired mainly by five things- 1. Watching the movies (obviously XD), 2. Reading other Disney Crossover fics, 3. Listening to certain traditional and contemporary music- from both the region of Polynesia and the region of the Andes, 4. Wondering whether Polynesian wayfarers and pre-Columbian Native Americans met (there's some evidence that they did), and 5. Seeing that rare crossover fanart where Kuzco asks Maui if he can morph into a llama, which he does. XD I have a strong feeling that if you put Maui, Moana, and Kuzco together in the same room, the snark level would be through the roof. Sarcastic comments flying left and right between those three...XD<br/>Now, I'd say more, but I don't want to bore or confuse you all with any more rambling.<br/>Just a couple more things to note: "Tawantinsuyu" means "four parts together" and was the original name for the Inca Empire which was split into four regions, or "suyu."<br/>The word "whare" in New Zealand Maori means "house" or "dwelling."<br/>Without further ado, let's begin the tale...</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Moana giggled as she stepped on to the beach for the first time in nearly a whole week! She’d hardly had any time to herself lately, what with her parents giving her more and more work and not to mention preparing for her thirteenth birthday celebration. Not that she didn’t enjoy a good party sometimes, but she was glad to finally have some peace and quiet… and to be near the ocean.</p><p>She didn’t understand it. Why was everyone so afraid of the sea? Sure, it got rough and choppy when the weather was bad, but it was also beautiful and vast… farther than human eyes could see. The young girl always wondered just how far did it go? How deep did it go? Grandma Tala had told her stories of other islands like Motunui out there, with people who lived on those islands the way people did here…</p><p>Moana blinked and turned towards the soft humming nearby. She grinned as she watched Grandma Tala dance on the edge of the waves, manta rays circling around her legs. Eager to join in, she rushed to her grandmother’s side, twirling her hands and swaying her body in the old traditional dance her elders had taught her starting when she was old enough to walk.</p><p>Tala’s smile widened at the appearance of her granddaughter. Her smooth movements never faltered as she spoke aloud.</p><p>“I like to dance with the water. Feel the power of the undertow and waves.”</p><p>“It always comes and goes back and forth,” Moana answered cheerfully, the water up to her ankles. She could feel the gentle push and pull of the tide. Glancing down, she noted with delight the little turtle that circled her legs a couple of times before swimming out to sea.</p><p>“The water is mischievous—”</p><p>Here Tala lightly splashed some seawater in the young girl’s face, making her laugh and briefly pause her dancing. “I love how it misbehaves.” Then the elder woman continued, “Everyone else thinks I’m crazy. They say I drift too far. But once you know what you like…” She shrugged. “Well, there you are.” Tala waved a hand over her head, finishing her dance. She smiled as she watched Moana mirror the movement; as her granddaughter continued to grow, her dancing grew more graceful and fluid. Like she was gradually becoming one with the ocean…</p><p>Tala started to stroll along the shoreline. Her curious granddaughter followed close beside her. The two trekked up on a path slightly away from shore and through some low vegetative brush.</p><p>“You’re growing up so fast,” Tala noted with a proud yet melancholy smile. “So much time passes in the blink of an eye it seems.”</p><p>“I never have any time to come here,” Moana complained, obviously referring to the ocean. Her face scrunched up in a pout, and she couldn’t help the nervous feeling in her stomach that her parents would find her at any moment. It just wasn’t fair!</p><p>Tala chuckled at her granddaughter’s chagrin. “You have your mother’s beauty and kindness, and your father’s stubbornness and pride” Here she stopped, turning to fully face Moana. “Mind what they say but remember—” Tala wagged her finger for emphasis. “You may hear a voice inside you.</p><p>“And if that voice whispers to follow the farthest star,” she continued, “Moana, that voice inside is <em>who you are…”</em>  Tala then lifted her cane and pushed aside the bushes nearby, which revealed two boats that sat on the shoreline.</p><p>Moana squealed in excitement as she started towards the canoes Grandma Tala’s cane pointed to. But she didn’t make it two steps before a tall hulking figure blocked her path. She shrank back in dismay as her father stood regal and imposing, arms crossed and stern eyes glowering down at her. The young teen huffed in dejection as she turned and slowly trotted away from the shore back to the village, where she could hear the festive sounds of laughter and music.</p><p>Chief Tui shot a brief frown at his mother and shook his head as he followed behind his daughter. Tala’s serene smile never slipped as she resumed her humming and dancing amongst the waves.</p><p>Moana yawned deeply and sighed in relief as she ran a hand through her loose hair. She was glad to have that heavy headdress of and her comfortable regular clothing back on. Her birthday celebration had continued throughout the day and well into the evening. Now that it was dark, thin slivers of moonlight beamed through the partially open flaps of her <em>whare</em>. As she got ready for bed, she hesitated over whether to try to sneak out to the shore. She decided against it; for one thing she was too tired and sleepy from all the festivities. Besides, her parents had watched her like a hawk all evening. She didn’t want to risk getting caught again should they still be awake, which lately seemed to happen more often.</p><p>‘<em>I’m sure Mom and Dad are going to give me more work now that I’m thirteen.’</em> The thought tired her out even further. <em>‘More baskets to weave, more tapa to beat, more potatoes to dig, more coconuts to husk, more bananas to pick… on and on…’</em></p><p>She plaited her hair into a single braid before rolling out her sleeping mat and plopping herself down on it. She shook her head. <em>‘You have to stay positive and try your best,’</em> she scolded herself. <em>‘That’s what a good chief would do.’</em> She wryly arched one brow; it didn’t escape her that the voice in her mind sounded suspiciously like her father at that moment. A sly grin curved her lips as another thought popped up: Maybe if she worked her hardest, she could make her parents proud, and then they’d cut her some slack and she could sneak in some time on the beach…</p><p>With that hopeful thought in mind Moana’s eyes finally fluttered closed, visions of the endless turquoise expanse filling her dreams. The chief’s daughter slumbered peacefully, unaware of the serious trouble brewing in the future for Motunui and its people.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I realize I mainly rehashed part of the song "Where You Are" from Moana, but that was no accident. I felt like that was the best and most natural place to start since that song was a montage of Moana growing up and learning her future chiefly duties and cultural values. I want to explore just what would happen if the early part of her life's journey took a major detour so to speak.<br/>Despite all that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. More to come soon. :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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